An unstaffed roadside farm stand. Bags of mandarins sit on covered shelves, with the variety and price chalked on a board. Growers from Mihama and Kumano in Mie, a region known for its citrus, each bring their own fruit. I bought extra-early mandarins, the first of the autumn.
Sources: pref.mie.lg.jp
This moment in the journey
Mandarins, also self-service
On the way home I stopped at a roadside farm stand, also unstaffed. Bags of mandarins lined the covered shelves, and a chalkboard advertised extra-early mandarins. I picked up a bag of the autumn fruit, still tinged with green.
Watch this scene on YouTube3:51
More notes from this journey
Nachikatsuura, Wakayama
Ochazuke with saba heshiko
Heshiko is a traditional preserved food of the Wakasa region of Fukui: gutted mackerel is salted, then packed in rice bran and left to cure for months.
From: Nachikatsuura: the sea from a fishing-village window
Nachikatsuura, Wakayama
Charcoal-grilled tuna collar
Nachikatsuura is a fishing town that boasts Japan's largest landings of fresh tuna.
From: Nachikatsuura: the sea from a fishing-village window
Nachikatsuura, Wakayama
Fresh tuna sashimi
Katsuura's fresh tuna, never frozen, has a soft, chewy texture.
From: Nachikatsuura: the sea from a fishing-village window
Nachikatsuura, Wakayama
Nachi Falls (Hiro Shrine)
One of Japan's three great waterfalls: 13 meters wide at the lip, with a 10-meter-deep basin, it drops 133 meters in a single fall.
From: Nachikatsuura: the sea from a fishing-village window
Nachikatsuura, Wakayama
Kumano Nachi Taisha and the Yatagarasu
One of the three grand shrines of Kumano, born of the worship of Nachi Falls, with a history of about 1,700 years.
From: Nachikatsuura: the sea from a fishing-village window
Nachikatsuura, Wakayama
Katsuura's fresh tuna
With the Kuroshio current flowing offshore and a deeply indented coastline, Nachikatsuura is a fishing town with Japan's largest landings of fresh tuna.
From: Nachikatsuura: the sea from a fishing-village window
More notes from Kinki
Kyoto City, Kyoto
Kyoto-style ozoni (white miso New Year soup)
Ozoni in and around Kyoto is built on kombu dashi and white miso, with round mochi, taro, carrot and daikon.
From: Making New Year's Eve soba in a Kyoto townhouse
Kyoto City, Kyoto
Osechi (datemaki, red-and-white namasu, decorated kamaboko)
Each osechi dish carries a wish.
From: Making New Year's Eve soba in a Kyoto townhouse
Kyoto City, Kyoto
Toshikoshi soba (nihachi soba)
The custom of eating soba on New Year's Eve is said to have spread among ordinary people in the Edo period.
From: Making New Year's Eve soba in a Kyoto townhouse
Aridagawa, Wakayama
Chestnut rice (kuri gohan)
My first chestnut rice, made with chestnuts I had picked myself.
From: Chestnuts, saury and an autumn feast
Aridagawa, Wakayama
Charcoal-grilled saury with sudachi
Sanma is written 秋刀魚, "autumn sword fish," but that spelling only spread from the Taisho era on; older texts wrote it 青串魚.
From: Chestnuts, saury and an autumn feast
Aridagawa, Wakayama
Wakayama bonito and mandarin carpaccio
In contrast to the lean first bonito of spring, the fish that head south from around September are called modori-gatsuo, returning bonito.
From: Chestnuts, saury and an autumn feast